A paper umbrella consists of two trend reversal patterns namely the hanging man and the hammer. The hanging man pattern is bearish and the hammer pattern is relatively bullish. A paper umbrella is characterized by a long lower shadow with a small upper body.
If the paper umbrella appears at the bottom end of a downward rally, it is called the ‘Hammer’.
If the paper umbrella appears at the top end of an uptrend rally, it is called the ‘Hanging man’.
To qualify a candle as a paper umbrella, the length of the lower shadow should be at least twice the length of the real body. This is called the ‘shadow to real body ratio’.
Let us look at this example: Open = 100, High = 103, Low = 94, Close = 102 (bullish candle).
Here, the length of the real body is Close – Open i.e 102-100 = 2 and the length of the lower shadow is Open – Low i.e 100 – 94 = 6. As the length of the lower shadow is more than twice of the length of the real body; hence we can conclude that a paper umbrella has formed.